Each of the four regional associations select a male and female athlete as nomination for CIS Athlete of the Year.
The 2015 CIS Male and Female Athletes of the Year will be announced on May 4th at the 23rd Annual BLG Awards.
Now that the championship season is concluded, the next order of business at CIS schools across Canada is to salute their top individual award winners. That process will unfold over the next few weeks and will lead toward the ultimate award show: the 23rd BLG Awards, set for Monday, May 4th in the Martha Cohen Theatre in Calgary.
The BLG Awards are sponsored by the national law firm, Borden Ladner Gervais. They honour the best student athletes in the country, drawn from the 56 member institutions of Canadian Interuniversity Sport. More than 11,000 student athletes take part in CIS events each year. A list of the top male and female athletes at each school is whittled down to the final eight: one male and one female from each of the four conferences that make up CIS. These student athletes come to Calgary for a full weekend of activities, culminating in the awards show on May 4th which will be televised nationally by Sportsnet.
“We’ve had some incredible winners over the years,” says Doug Mitchell, founder of the awards and Chair of the Canadian Athletic Foundation which picks the winners. “They’ve come from all over the country. I never cease to be amazed at the quality of student athlete in the CIS. What they accomplish in sport and in the classroom, and what they so often contribute in their communities, is a shining example of achievement. Every student athlete who is nominated is a deserving recipient. It is extraordinarily difficult every year to pick two winners.”
Each of the nominees has participated in a sanctioned CIS sports activity for at least two years. Each nominee must be in a course of study leading to his/her first undergraduate or graduate degree. Each nominee must be either his/her school’s athlete of the year, or the school’s top athlete in a sport sanctioned by CIS. No athlete who has won a BLG award is eligible to be nominated again.
The BLG Award winners each receive $10,000.00 scholarships for use at a Canadian university accredited by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).
The BLG Awards will take place at Martha Cohen Theatre in Calgary. Check here for more info.